Tree-grown fruits, such as apples or pears, are normally harvested by hand. Orchard workers usually wear picking bags made of canvas slung over their shoulders with a harness and supported by a wire frame at the upper opening. Such bags usually have an open bottom which may be folded up and secured to contain the picked fruit, and which may be released to allow the fruit to roll out the open bottom of the bag into a collection bin. Bags of this type are shown generally in U.S. Pat. No. 1,137,303, issued Apr. 27, 1915, to C. A. Carpenter; U.S. Pat. No. 1,354,220, issued Sept. 28, 1920, to A. W. Sharrard; U.S. Pat. No. 1,394,197, issued Oct. 18, 1921, to W. F. Keeline; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,992,369, issued Feb. 26, 1935, to J. D. Grabill.
Each of the above-identified patents discloses an open top bad supported by a generally D-shaped frame. The straight or slightly concave portion of the frame is positioned against the picker's body and the outer or convex portion of the frame extends generally outwardly to maintain the mouth of the bag in an open position.
The Sharrard patent shows a support frame having a downwardly extending rear portion to assist in maintaining the open mouth of the bag in a generally horizontal position. In picking bags of this type, the bag portion is generally made of cotton canvas and sewn to a wire frame. The attachment of the bag around the frame is commonly covered with leather for reinforcement. Such bags have been substantially unchanged in design over the past several decades.
Typically the top hoop portion of the support frame and the downwardly extending rear portion of the support frame are made of heavy gauge wire with welded joints. These joints are susceptible to breaking when the worker uses the support frame to brace himself against a ladder or leans upon it to rest himself. Because the bags are permanently sewn to the support frame, broken frames cannot be repaired and the entire picking bag becomes useless. Likewise, if the canvas bag is damaged or destroyed, the frame cannot be reused and the entire unit must be replaced.
The current market in the fruit industry requires that each piece of fruit be completely bruise-free. Fruit that is even slightly bruised or blemished is worth only a fraction of that which is perfect in appearance. Most bruising of fruit occurs in the orchard as it is being picked. It is important that nothing in the picking bag contribute to fruit damage. As it is picked, each piece of fruit is carefully laid in the bag. However, as the bag becomes full, it is likely that the bag will be pressed against a rung or siderail of the ladder as the worker attempts to reach the last pieces of fruit. As the worker descends the ladder, the full bag is subjected to impact with the ladder and the worker's knees. Also, as the bag is lifted over the edge of the collection bin, the full bag of fruit is likely to be bumped against the side or edge of the bin. Each of these impacts, however slight, is likely to bruise one or more pieces of fruit. The typical canvas bag offers no protection from such impacts.
Typical fruit-picking bags are slung over the worker's shoulders with webbed belting which passes through eyes in the support frame. Because the bags are sewn to the frame, the eyes of the frame must be positioned to permit a continuously stitched seam. The result is that the position of the eyes typically creates uneven stress on the webbed belting which results in premature wear on the harness.